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A British judge
granted bail of 200,000 pounds ($317,400) on Tuesday for the release of
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, wanted in Sweden for alleged sex
crimes and the target of U.S. fury over the release of secret
diplomatic cables. Prosecutors, representing Swedish authorities,
quickly said they would appeal against the bail decision and Judge
Howard Riddle said Assange must remain in custody until a new hearing
is held within 48 hours. Riddle had earlier ruled that, pending a
hearing on January 11, Assange could be freed under strict conditions
including electronic tagging and a curfew. He would have had to report
to police daily and post a 200,000 pound bond, to be put up by wealthy
backers. The 39-year-old Australian, who has spent a week in London’s
Wandsworth prison, is fighting attempts to extradite him to Sweden for
questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct made by two female
WikiLeaks volunteers, accusations he denies. Mark Stephens, a lawyer
for Assange, said Swedish authorities would clearly not spare any
expense to keep Assange in jail.

“This is really turning into a show trial and we will be in court again within the next 48 hours,” he told reporters.

He called Assange
“an innocent man sitting in Dickensian conditions, Victorian conditions
in Wandsworth jail.” Assange and his lawyers have voiced fears that
U.S. prosecutors may be preparing to indict him for espionage over
WikiLeaks’ publication of the documents. Riddle denied Assange bail a
week ago on grounds he might abscond but said he had changed his mind
because Assange had provided a British address and because
discrepancies over his passport and right to stay in Britain had now
been resolved. Prosecution lawyer Gemma Lindfield, acting for the
Swedish authorities, said nothing had changed.

“He remains a significant flight risk and no conditions that court can impose could prevent his flight,” she told the court.

Impassive Assange

Assange, wearing a
navy suit and open-necked white shirt, spoke only to confirm his name,
age and address. He sat impassively behind tall panels of thickened
glass during the hearing, which lasted a little over an hour. His
supporters in the court included Bianca Jagger, the former wife of
Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. One of the main conditions of his
bail is that he lives at Ellingham Hall, a country mansion in Suffolk,
eastern England that is the home of a former army officer and Assange
supporter, Vaughan Smith. Assange has long been a thorn in the side of
Washington. U.S. anger reached new heights after WikiLeaks began
publishing part of a trove of 250,000 secret diplomatic papers. Two of
Assange’s supporters took the witness stand to offer 20,000 pounds each
to act as a surety. Restaurant designer and catering company boss Sarah
Saunders told the court: “I believe he would not let me down.” Smith
called him as a “very honourable person, hugely courageous,
self-deprecatory and warm.” Assange, who handed himself in to British
police last week after Sweden issued a European arrest warrant,
remained defiant.

In a statement
released by his mother on Tuesday, he denounced the firms that
suspended payments to his website as instruments of U.S. foreign policy
and calling for help in protecting his work from their “illegal and
immoral attacks. My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the
ideals I have expressed. This circumstance shall not shake them,”
Assange said, according to a written statement of his comments supplied
to Australia’s Network Seven by his mother Christine.

“We now know that Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and others are instruments of U.S. foreign policy,” he said.

“I am calling for
the world to protect my work and my people from these illegal and
immoral attacks.” Internet activists launched “Operation Payback” last
week to avenge WikiLeaks against those perceived to have obstructed its
operations, temporarily bringing down the websites of credit card firms
Visa and MasterCard, as well as that of the Swedish government.

An ABC
News/Washington Post poll released on Tuesday showed that a majority of
Americans — 59 percent — believed the United States should try to
arrest Assange and charge him with a crime related to the disclosure of
the cables.

Sixty-eight percent
of the 1,001 U.S. adults polled said WikiLeaks’ actions harmed the
public interest, while 20 percent said the disclosures served the
public interest.